Healthy Liver & Bowel for a Healthy Immune System

June 17, 2006

1. Liver Detox 2. Liver Dysfunction 3. Vital Principles 4. Liver Tonics 5. Liver & Weight Loss 6. Shopping List 7. Q & A 8. Liver Diseases 9. Metabolism 10.Tests 11. Bowel Diseases 12. Digestive Problems 13. Case Studies 14. Organic Food 15. Artificial Sweeteners 16. Conversion Chart 17. Recipe Notes 18. Final Thoughts 19. Contact Details 20. Bibliography

Introduction

The Liver and Detoxification

More than ever before in the history of mankind, human beings need to have healthy livers to break down the chemicals that have crept into our environment.

I received an E-mail from a reader of my books, who was alarmed by the large number of *hormone implants* being inserted into beef animals where she worked in a stock and station agency.

Steers are implanted with "oestrogens", which is justified by corporate statements, that tests have shown that a non-pregnant woman produces 54,000 times the amount of oestrogen found in a 500 gram steak.

This is all very well, however, it is still ncreasing the workload of the liver, which over a long period of time may cause hormonal imbalances in those who eat beef regularly.

We must ask ourselves why is the incidence of breast cancer so high, particularly in relatively young women?

Surely it is better to eat meat from animals that roam free and happy in fresh green pastures that are not injected with potent *hormones* or fed "concentrated" stock feed (growth hormones) to rush their growth?

The liver is the gateway to the body and in this chemical age its detoxification systems are easily overloaded.

Thousands of chemicals are added to food and over 700 have been identified in drinking water.

Plants are sprayed with toxic chemicals, animals are injected with potent hormones and antibiotics and a significant amount of our food is genetically engineered, processed, refined, frozen and cooked.

All this can lead to *destruction* of delicate vitamins and minerals, which are needed for the "detoxification" pathways in the liver.

The liver must try to 'cope' with every toxic chemical in our environment, as well as "damaged" fats that are present in processed and fried foods.

The Liver Filter

The liver is the 'cleanser' and 'filter' of the blood stream and is of *vital* importance.

The liver is the largest organ in the body and has an enormous amount of blood flowing through it every minute of our lives. If we examine the liver under a microscope, we will see rows of liver cells separated by spaces which act like a filter or sieve, through which the blood stream flows.

The liver filter is designed to remove "toxic matter" such as dead cells, microorganisms, chemicals, drugs and particulate debris from the blood stream.

The liver filter is called the *sinusoidal*system, and contains specialised cells known as "Kupffer cells" which ingest and breakdown *toxic* matter.

The liver filter can remove a wide range of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites from the blood stream, which is highly desirable, as we certainly do not want these dangerous things building up in the blood stream and invading the deeper parts of the body.

Infections with parasites often come from the contaminated water supplies found in large cities, and indeed other dangerous organisms may find their way into your gut and blood stream from these sources.

This can cause chronic infections and poor health, so it is important to protect your liver from overload with these microorganisms.

The safest thing to do is boil your water for at least 5 minutes, or drink only bottled spring water that has been filtered and sterilised.

High loads of unhealthy microorganisms can also come from eating foods that are prepared in conditions of poor "hygiene" by persons who are carrying bacteria, viruses or parasites on their skin.

Foods, especially meats that are not fresh or are preserved, also contain a higher bacterial load, which will overwork the liver filter if they are eaten regularly.

Recently, it has become very fashionable for people to detoxify their bodies by various means, such as fasting or cleansing the bowels with fibre mixtures.

Fasting can by its extreme nature, only be a temporary method of cleansing the body of waste products, and for many people causes an excessively rapid release of toxins which can cause unpleasant, acute symptoms.

The liver filter, like any filter, needs to be cleansed regularly, and it is much easier and safer to do it everyday.

This is easily and pleasantly achieved by adopting a daily eating pattern that maintains the liver filter in a healthy clean state. By following the recipes, methods of cooking, and guidelines in my book, you will be able to keep the liver filter healthy and clean.

Although it is important to keep the intestines moving regularly and to sweep their walls with high fibre and living foods, it is important to remember that the bowels are really a channel of elimination and not a cleansing organ per se.

In other words the bowels cannot cleanse, filter or remove toxic wastes from the blood stream.

It is only the liver that can purify the blood stream and we only have one liver.

The Liver Detoxification Pathways

Inside the liver cells there are sophisticated mechanisms that have evolved over millions of years to break down toxic substances.

Every drug, artificial chemical, pesticide and hormone, is broken down (metabolised) by enzyme pathways inside the liver cells.

Many of the toxic chemicals that enter the body are fat-soluble, which means they dissolve only in fatty or oily solutions and not in water.

Fat-soluble chemicals have a high affinity for fat tissues and cell membranes, which are made of fatty substances.

In these fatty parts of the body, toxins may be stored for years, being released during times of exercise, stress or fasting.

During the release of these toxins, symptoms such as headaches, poor memory, stomach pain, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and palpitations may occur.

The liver is designed to convert fat-soluble chemicals into watersoluble chemicals so that they may then be easily excreted from the body via watery fluids such as bile and urine.

How the Liver Detoxifies Harmful Substances

Basically there are TWO major detoxification pathways inside the liver cells, which are called the Phase 1 and Phase 2 detoxification pathways (see diagram above).

Phase One - Detoxification Pathways

An example of the phase one pathway is the Cytochrome P-450 mixed function oxidase enzymes.

This pathway converts a toxic chemical into a less harmful chemical.

This is achieved by various chemical reactions (such as oxidation, reduction and hydrolysis), and during this process free radicals are produced which, if excessive, can damage the liver cells.

Antioxidants (such as vitamin C and E and natural carotenoids) reduce the damage caused by these free radicals.

If antioxidants are lacking, toxic chemicals become far more dangerous.

Excessive amounts of toxic chemicals such as pesticides can disrupt the P-450 enzyme system.

Phase Two - Detoxification Pathway

This is called the conjugation pathway, whereby the liver cells add another substance (eg. cysteine, glycine or a sulphur molecule) to a toxic chemical or drug, to render it less harmful.

This makes the toxin or drug water-soluble, so it can then be excreted from the body via watery fluids such as bile or urine.

Through conjugation, the liver is able to turn drugs, hormones and various toxins into excretable substances.

For efficient phase two detoxification, the liver cells require sulphur-containing amino acids such as taurine and cysteine.

The nutrients glycine, glutamine, choline and inositol are also required for efficient phase two detoxification.

Eggs and cruciferous vegetables (eg. broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower), and raw garlic, onions, leeks and shallots are all good sources of natural *sulphur* compounds to enhance phase two detoxification.

Thus, these foods can be considered to have a "cleansing" action.

The phase two enzyme systems include both UDP-glucuronyl transferase (GT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GSH-T).

Glutathione is the most powerful internal antioxidant and liver protector.

It can be depleted by large amounts of toxins and/or drugs passing through the liver,

as well as starvation or fasting.

Toxic Overload

If the phase one and two detoxification pathways become overloaded, there will be a build up of toxins in the body.

Many of these toxins are fatsoluble and incorporate themselves into fatty parts of the body where they may stay for years, if not for a lifetime.

The brain and the endocrine (hormonal) glands are fatty organs, and are common sites for 'fat-soluble" toxins to accumulate.

This may result in symptoms of brain dysfunction and hormonal imbalances, such as infertility, breast pain, menstrual disturbances, adrenal gland exhaustion and early menopause.

Many of these chemicals (eg. pesticides, petrochemicals) are carcinogenic and have been implicated in the rising incidence of many cancers.

If the filtering and/or detoxification systems within the liver are overloaded or inefficient, this will cause toxins, dead cells and microorganisms to build up in the blood stream.

This will then increase the workload of the immune system, which will become overloaded and irritated.

The immune system will then produce excessive *inflammatory* chemicals, and in some cases, autoantibodies, because it is in a hyperstimulated state.

This may lead to symptoms of *immune dysfunction* such as allergies, inflammatory states, swollen glands, recurrent infections, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia or autoimmune diseases.

Some of the more common autoimmune diseases are systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), sclerosing cholangitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, vasculitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Immune "dysfunction" is common in the chemically overloaded environment we live in today, and is exacerbated by nutritional deficiencies inherent in processed and high fat diets.

Suppressive drugs are often used to treat symptoms of immune dysfunction. Rarely does anyone think about the liver, which seems incredible to me because it is such a powerful organ and is easily improved.

Indeed the simplest and most effective way to cleanse the blood stream and thus take the load off the immune system is by improving liver function.

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